Enchantment

From Freepedia

Enchanter and Enchantress redirect here. For other uses of the words enchantment, enchanter, or enchantress (including the comic book characters called Enchantress), see enchantment (disambiguation).

In traditional fairy tales or fantasy fiction, an enchantment is a magical spell that is attached, on a relatively-permanent basis, to a specific person, object or location, and alters its qualities, generally in a positive way. The most widely-known example is probably the spell that Cinderella's Fairy Godmother uses to turn a pumpkin into a coach. An enchantment with negative characteristics is usually instead referred to as a curse.

The Latin incantare, which means 'to utter an incantation', or cast a magic spell, forms the basis of the word "enchant", with deep linguistic roots going back to the Indo-European kan- prefix. So it can be said that an enchanter or enchantress casts magic spells, or utters incantations, similar to what are called Mantra in Sanskrit.